Following the announcement, the MNRE received several representations from renewable energy generators stating that their plants were getting curtailed by the DISCOMs citing the order issued by MoP mentioned above.
Looking at the situation, MNRE made an announcement clarifying that all the renewable energy plants will continue to be considered as “must-run” during the lockdown as well. It also made it clear that since the renewable energy plants constitute very less portion of the overall energy requirement of the nation, the payments to the RE generators should be done on a regular basis as per provisions of the order dated 1st August 2019.
Through a separate communication, clarification is also being notified by MNRE with respect to the invoicing procedure to be followed considering the disruptions in submitting the hard copies of the invoices due to lockdown. The requirement of the hardcopy based invoice submission has been waived and invoice submission through email is considered acceptable for the purpose of payment consideration. For more details, kindly read the MNRE notification attached herewith.?
Earlier, in August 2019, the Central Electricity Authority published a list of payment dues by the DISCOMs to individual RE generators which added up to be 8231.8 Crs. The DISCOMs have thus been asked to make regular payments to the generators as per the procedure being followed prior to the lockdown.?
It may also be noted that the lockdown across the nation has resulted in national electricity demand reducing by as much as 30% (as reported by POSOCO, the national grid operator) leaving the grid operators with a challenge to ensure uninterrupted power supply to everyone during these difficult times and simultaneously safeguard reliable grid operations.?
OM_reg_Invoicing.pdf
OM__reg_MustRun_and_Regular_Payments_to_REGS.pdf ]]>
According to the amendment, the RPO contribution of Obligated Entities (OE) consuming energy from the hybrid wind-solar plants will be based on the relative proportion of energy contributed by each source which will be calculated based on the ratio of the declared capacities of each of those sources in the PPA.?
However, the Obligated Entities have the option to chose the proportion from each source based on the actual ratios of the installed capacities of those sources and not necessarily the capacities indicated in the PPA.
MNRE announced the National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy in 2018, to encourage the installation of large-scale hybrid plants in the country. The Policy also intends to improve grid stability & infrastructure while encouraging the installation of hybrid wind-solar plants. ]]>
Prior to this notification, the benchmark cost for Grid-connected solar plants for FY 17-18 was not category-specific.
The new benchmark costs will be applicable to all the implementing agencies involved in developing rooftop solar projects. Across all the categories of the SPV plants, the rates of the benchmark cost have reduced considerably. However, the rates for special category states are reduced less as compared to the general states, since the ministry is trying to promote rooftop solar installations in these states as well. ]]>
Amendment in Point 9: Indicative time table for the bid process
Amendment in Point 12: Financial closure
“Solar Power Generator shall attain the financial closure in terms of the PPA, within 9 (nine) months from the date of execution of the Power Purchase Agreement, for projects being set up in Solar park, and within 12 (twelve) months from the date of execution of the Power Purchase Agreement, for projects being set up outside Solar park. However, if for any reason, the time period for attaining the financial closure needs to be kept smaller than that provided in these Guidelines, the Procurer can do the same.”
Amendment in Point 14.3: Commissioning schedule
“The projects shall be commissioned, within a period of 15 (fifteen) months from the date of execution of the PPA, for projects being set up in Solar park, and within a period of 18 (eighteen) months from the date of execution of the PPA, for projects being set up outside Solar park…”
The issued amendments might be intended to bring discipline and consistency in the competitive bidding process as the government intends to achieve renewable energy installed capacity of 175 GW by 2022. ]]>
| Renewable energy technology | List of products covered under the order (preference make in India) | Minimum percentage of local content required in renewable energy products |
| Small hydropower | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as turbines, generators, penstock, pipelines, control panel, governors, cables, valves, transformers, switch gears etc. | 80 |
| Wind power | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as gearbox, blades, rotor, generator, tower, bearings, yaw mechanism components etc | 80 (Besides hub and nacelle assembly/manufacturing facility should be in India) |
| Off-grid/decentralized solar power | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as solar street lights, solar home lighting systems, solar power packs/microgrid, solar water pumps, inverters etc. | 70 |
| Grid-connected solar power projects | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as solar PV modules & other components such as inverters etc. | Solar modules – 100 Other components like inverters etc. – 40 |
| Biomass gasifier | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as biomass gasifier reactor, feed hopper. | 80 |
| Biomass co-generation | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as boiler & its auxiliaries like ESP, turbine generators & its auxiliaries etc. | 80 |
| Municipal solid waste projects | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as boiler, flue gas cleaning system, grab crane system, waste processing system, leachate treatment plant etc. | 60 |
| Waste to Energy (Biomass/Bio-CNG) | Apart from civil construction, preference shall be provided in Central Ministries/Department and Central PSUs to domestically manufactured/produced products such as feed mixer tank, mixing agitation feeding pump, digester tank etc. | 80 |
- Products/items related to renewable energy research & development shall be exempted from the current order. Any kind of electricity or end product generated from these RE products under this order can be utilized for captive/non-commercial purposes only.
- Self-verification of the local content is required from the supplier during the tender/bidding. In case the procurement value crosses INR 10 crores, the local supplier will be needed to provide a certificate from the certified auditors.
- False declaration of any kind can lead to a suspension for up to two years as per general financial rules.
- Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will be the nodal agency for all the activities related to the order.
Guidelines for setting up a grid-connected solar PV power projects for 2000 MW along with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for Batch III ?Phase II NSM
Guidelines for setting up a grid-connected solar PV power projects for 5000 MW along with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for Batch IV ?Phase II NSM
The amendments are assumed to have come into existence due to the slow interest in the tenders due to lack of land allotments and the financial issues related to it. Currently, around 7% of the total installed capacity is from solar. But lately, the solar installations have taken a back seat due to issues like anti-dumping tariffs, and confusion in the GST rate. ]]>
Recently MNRE has made two amendments in clause 5 & 6 of the scheme to provide more financial support to the projects. The changes are as follows:
Apart from this, The Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC) has rejected two petitions filed by owners of bagasse-based cogeneration projects against the imposition of cross-subsidy surcharge for self-consumption of power in Madhya Pradesh.
The petitioners Shri Durga Khandsari Sugar Mills and Narmada Sugar Private Limited had approached MPERC to not impose cross-subsidy on self-consumption of the electricity from its own bagasse-based cogenerating stations. However, both the plaintiffs were selling the majority of its generated electricty via open access and less than 51% was being self-consumed. Hence, the commission was of the opinion that whole power supplied by the cogeneration plants of the petitioners will be treated as if the power is supplied by a generating company.
MNRE has also invited an Expression of Interest (EOI) for tapping the potential of biomass and bagasse co-generation in the country as of October 2018, to promote the source of energy. ]]>
Wind sector in India is growing at a rapid pace with increased utilization of wind energy for the power development, The modern wind turbines have higher hub heights, larger rotor diameter, higher capacity, and improved CUF along with technological improvements. The IWTCS is a consolidation of relevant National and International Standards (IS/IEC/IEEE), Technical Regulations and requirements issued by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), guidelines issued by MNRE and other international guidelines. The Scheme enlists the guidelines for the benefit of all the stakeholders from concept to lifetime of a wind turbine, including Indian Type Approved Model (ITAM), Indian Type Certification Scheme (ITCS), Wind Farm Project Certification Scheme (WFPCS) and Wind Turbine Safety & Performance Certification Scheme (WTSPCS).
The IWTCS defines certification system guidelines for wind turbines that comprise of Prototype Certification and Type Certification; Project Certification, Failure reporting of installed wind turbines, Safety and Performance assessment and De-commissioning & Safe Disposal of the wind turbine/wind turbine projects installed onshore and offshore. It specifies guidelines for carrying out conformity evaluation of wind turbines and wind farms, with respect to specific standards and other technical requirements, relating to safety, reliability, performance, testing, and interaction with electrical power networks.
The new guidelines are expected to bring better evaluation standards for wind turbines & wind farms in the country in terms of technical requirements, relating to safety, reliability, performance, testing, certification, and interaction with electrical power networks
]]>
At recent stakeholders meet, the Power Minister R.K. Singh talked about the matter.
“We are committed to remove the obstacles in the financing of renewable energy projects. We have taken inputs from different stakeholders. One suggestion was that priority lending should be done for renewable energy projects and without any limit.”
Currently, the rooftop solar projects are under the priority sector lending category, but the funding quantum is only 15 crores.
In the current scenario, the Non-performing assets (NPAs) in the thermal power sector are impacting investments in the renewable energy projects, disrupting the lending situation for the power sector completely including renewable projects.
Along with this, RE developers also face financial drawback with added cost due to safeguard duty implementation in the country and conflicting to that competitive tariffs with each auction announced. Developers at the meeting also raised issues regarding payment delays by distribution companies and their demand for 2-3% rebates on delayed payments. ]]>
According to the timetable, SECI will have the months of Dec, Mar, Jun & Sept for its tender and auction activity. NTPC and other public sector units will utilize Jan, Apr, Jul, and Oct for tender & auction activity. Further, the state implementing agencies will use Feb, May, Aug, and Nov for the activities.
MNRE has requested implementing agencies to follow this timetable in light of the tender trajectory that was announced earlier. As per the trajectory, 30 GW of solar will be tendered and auctioned in the current and the next Financial years. The timeline is to be followed by the large-scale projects tenders only and not the rooftop solar tenders.
The manufacturers are in acceptance of the proposed plan and believe, that now they will be able to plan their activities in an efficient manner. However, people in the industry are skeptical if the state will follow this timetable, since MNRE is an organization providing guidelines and it is up to the state to decide whether to follow it or not. ]]>